Making a statement in red

EXETER — Judy Healy listened intently as her daughter Meghan King recounted the day in 2009 when her mother collapsed on the floor of her Hampton home.

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By Suzanne Laurent

seacoastonline.com

By Suzanne Laurent

Posted Sep. 22, 2013 at 8:25 AM

By Suzanne Laurent
Posted Sep. 22, 2013 at 8:25 AM

» Social News

EXETER — Judy Healy listened intently as her daughter Meghan King recounted the day in 2009 when her mother collapsed on the floor of her Hampton home.

Healy was the survivor speaker at the American Heart Association's "Hearts n' Heels" Go Red Tea last Thursday at RiverWoods. She stood next to her daughter at the podium as King spoke first.

King was working from home at her mother's house that day, due to a last-minute schedule change, and she saved her mother's life. She heard a loud bang and found Healy, then 66, unconscious on the floor, turning blue and not breathing.

"When I tell you I felt panicked, that really doesn't begin to explain what was going through my mind," King said. "I had never been so scared in my life. I had no medical background or CPR training and no clue what to do."

She called 9-1-1.

"Tell me what to do," King asked the dispatcher. "Thankfully, the 9-1-1 operator was able to give me clear and concise instructions on how to do compressions until the paramedics arrived," she said. "It was the longest eight minutes of my life."

Healy was rushed to Exeter Hospital and medical staff was unsure if there was damage to her brain because of the length of time she was not breathing.

Doctors determined she had gone into cardiac arrest due to a heart attack caused by a blocked artery in her heart. Once she was stabilized, doctors prepared to move her to the cardiac catheterization lab for an angioplasty, which uses a balloon catheter to open the blocked artery.

"The faster the artery is opened, the less damage occurs," said Dr. Thomas Wharton, director of the cardiac catheterization laboratory and chief of the section of cardiology at Exeter Hospital.

Wharton was the keynote speaker at the "Hearts n' Heels" event and he described in detail Healy's cardiac event.

Healy was first treated with a state-of-the-art cooling system, call Arctic Sun. The Arctic Sun uses flexible soft pads placed on the trunk and lower extremities, and utilizes a patented water-based cooling system to lower body temperature to approximately 92 degrees.

Slowing brain metabolism by cooling a patient immediately after cardiac arrest has been shown to improve chances of survival and help protect the brain from permanent injury.

"We weren't sure what she'd be like when she woke up," King said. Healy began regaining consciousness after about six hours. King said her mother began talking and returned to the "same stubborn, loving person we prayed would return to us."

Healy praised the American Heart Association's advances that allowed her to see Megan, her youngest of five children, get married.

"I was able to attend my daughter's wedding, attend three grandchildren's high school graduations and countless other meaningful family events," she told the packed room of mostly women wearing red. "Most importantly, I was able to be around for the birth of four additional grandchildren," she said. "My story had an amazing outcome that I hope is something you or your family never has to endure."

Healy has 18 grandchildren with one on the way.

Wharton went over the alarming statistics of women and heart disease as the audience enjoyed a heart-healthy breakfast.

"One in four women will have a cardiovascular event by the age of 65," he said. "It far outweighs breast cancer and other diseases."

One in three women will have heart disease and 35 percent of heart attacks go unnoticed," Wharton said.

This is because women don't recognize the signs of a heart attack and 63 percent of women, as opposed to 48 percent of men, are asymptomatic, meaning they don't have obvious symptoms.

But things are improving, Wharton said, with the efforts of the American Heart Association and medical advances.

A study done for 18 years beginning in 1980 showed women having much poorer outcomes for men.

"But in the past 10 years, with the Go Red campaign and smoking cessation programs, women's outcomes are almost equal to men," Wharton said. "Congratulations to the American Heart Association."

Wharton said it's important for women to know their risk factors and to ask their doctor what their cholesterol numbers are, their blood pressure numbers, and whether they should be taking an aspirin each day.

Go Red is the American Heart Association's signature campaign for educating women about heart disease.

The "Hearts n' Heels" Go Red Tea this year featured a fashion show with handbags and shoes from Red's Shoe Barn, City Shoes in Portsmouth and Serendipity of Exeter.

The emcee for the fashion show was Sarah Sullivan, director of operations at 98.7 FM The Bay.

Models included Healy and other volunteers who strutted to the Bee Gee's "Staying Alive," which has the same tempo as the recommendation for chest compressions for saving lives.